No Deals to be Done
by hepaxedemos
Summary: Sometimes even Hell won't help
1. Chapter 1

Sam blinked in surprise as the blade slid smoothly into his abdomen. He grasped his assailants shoulder for support as pain sliced through his stomach, his other hand reached down until it hit the hilt of the knife protruding from his shirt. The material around it was sticky and wet and as he pulled his hand away he looked down and saw that his hand glistened with blood. As he stared, unable to form a thought or speak, he felt his attacker's lips brush against his ear.

"Hurts don't it, sugar." It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact. "And it's gonna hurt a lot more before you pass on". With the word "on" the knife was pulled from his body, its serrated edges tearing and ripping his flesh, doing far more damage than on the way in. The shoulder disappeared from under his hand and for a moment he remained suspended, one had hovering where it had gripped the shoulder, the other pressing the leaking hole in his stomach, rivulets of blood making their way slowly down the back of his hand. His legs finally gave out from underneath him and he collapsed to his knees, the hovering hand slapping down onto the wooden floorboards to stop him from hitting the floor completely.

Then Dean was there, a face peering up at his, a reassuring hand on his back, the other pulling at the hand holding his insides away to get a better look. He already felt a little better, reassured by his brother's presence.

"Sammy lemme look" Dean pulled at his brother's hand, frantically trying to see how bad the damage was. Sam could hear the panic in his voice. After a few moments that felt to Sam like Dean was pushing his fingers right into the wound and wiggling them around, Dean rocked back on his heels.

"Damnit Sam, you gave me a fright. It's not too deep. We'll get you stitched up and you'll be fine" he slapped his brother on the back and stood up, putting an arm under Sam's armpit to help him to his feet. Sam gingerly pressed his hand back to the wound in his stomach, to his surprise there wasn't as much pain as he was expecting, the wound felt narrower and shallower.

What the hell was going on?


	2. Chapter 2

The motel room was the usual cheap, slightly sticky deal that they had come to know as home these days. Sam wrapped one towel around him as he stepped out of the shower and used a smaller hand towel to rub his hair dry. His damp hair tousled across his forehead as he pulled the towel away and tossed it into the shower basin. He carefully unwrapped the towel from around his waist and studied his torso in the mirror. He looked closely at where he had been stabbed earlier that day; there was the faintest of marks, like an old and very faded scar. He brushed his fingertips lightly across it feeling its bumps and dips, finding some consolation in the feel of the damaged tissue as it confirmed that he _had_ been attacked and hadn't just imagined it. Confused and a little worried he crossed the threshold of the bathroom into the main room where Dean was busy banging the remote control for the TV on the edge of the bedside cabinet.

"A new sort of therapy?" Sam asked wryly.

"Huh! Damn thing won't let me turn to any channel other than the weather channel." He banged it again a couple of times just to show it who was boss and then threw it onto Sam's bed. He turned to his brother,

"So, no TV means no porn so I vote we head on out to a bar, down some beers and see where the night takes us." He paused for a moment and looked at Sam's stomach. "How ya feeling there?"

"Fine, I mean really fine, which is the weird thing because I could have sworn that the damage was worse that it is now."

"Well, you know what it's like to be stabbed so I'm willing to go on a little faith here. What happened exactly?" Sam told the story, what he could recall of it, to his brother, who on the whole took it rather well.

"OK, so you were stabbed and then healed superfast. Maybe you have developed superpowers" He raised his eyebrows in jest for a moment and then his face took on a more serious expression. "Sam have you thought that this is maybe some fall out from all that demon blood you been drinking? It's potent stuff, there's gotta be some side effects somewhere along the line."

"Ok, fine, but how is this a side effect? If it means that I can now heal faster?"

"Yeah, because that is completely normal. I mean people were meant to get stabbed and then be up and running around straight after."

"People weren't meant to do a lot of things, get possessed, have powers, be rescued from hell…" he trailed off.

"Well they sure as hell weren't meant to drink demon blood. I'm just saying, we need to consider that this may not be all our Christmases coming at once."

Sam opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a knock on the door.

"That'll be Bobby. He said he was gonna get some food." Sam closed his mouth and as Dean went to answer the door, he traipsed back into the bathroom to get dressed.

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Despite Dean's best efforts, the boys had failed to get as loaded as they had hoped and as a consequence were on the road again by 9 the next morning.

"Where to?" Sam asked stretching his legs out.

"Bobby said there has been some trouble north of here. I said we would meet him there this afternoon. Check it out and see if it is something that needs our attention". Sam nodded and turned to look out the window as the Impala chewed up the miles.

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The town Bobby had arranged to meet them in proudly announced on the billboard on the outskirts of town that it had a population of 5000. Some wise ass had written underneath the population figure "and rising thanks to Kennedy Wilson!"

"Remind me to look up Miss Wilson if we have time" Dean joked as he turned to Sam.

"I think she has a full diary already" Sam quipped back grinning cheekily.

As the car reached the centre of town the town hall clock struck two. Sitting in a diner window not far from where they parked they could see the familiar outline of Bobby.

"Aww look, he is in soft focus with all the steam on the window" Dean laughed as he stepped out of the car, but despite his joking he was feeling uneasy; his spidey sense was tingling. Bobby saw the boys and waved a sandwich at them as they made their way across the street. They had just reached the other side when Sam let out an anguished cry and stumbled into the diner wall. He rolled so that his back was to the wall and slid down until he was crumpled on the floor.

"Sam!" Dean yelled out in alarm. He squatted down and pulled at his brother. He reached inside the ball that Sam had curled into to grab his arm, pull him straight so that he could assess the problem but Sam was rigid. Dean pulled his hand back and was horrified to see that it was covered with blood. Suddenly Sam sat up, his face a mask of agony. He grabbed Dean by the arm.

"What's happening to me?" he hissed. Dean didn't answer, instead he pulled open Sam's denim jacket and saw his shirt was soaked in blood, right where he had been stabbed yesterday.

"Oh God, Sammy. Not good." Dean was dimly aware of Bobby speaking to someone, something about paramedics and an emergency. He pushed his hand hard against the spreading bloodstain in a futile attempt to stem the flow.

"Burning, I feel like I'm burning" Sam's breaths were short and sharp, rasping in his throat as he fought to keep the pain and panic under control. In his own mind Dean was also panicking. He couldn't be here again, no, no, no, no. The last time Sammy had been stabbed he had died, Dean had had to make a deal that had cost him his soul to get his little brother back. This couldn't be happening again. It couldn't.

Firm but gentle hands tried to push him aside as the paramedics attempted to gain access to Sam. Dean threw the hands off with a violent shrug of his shoulders and searched his brother's face for some sort of sign that this was going to be alright. Bobby leaned down and spoke in the same calm tones that his Dad had always spoken to him in when he was angry or upset. The soft rise and fall of his voice brought Dean to his senses and he stepped away from Sam, letting the paramedics get to him. For what seemed like a lifetime, the only thing he could hear was the sound of his own breath. He watched as Sam was loaded into the back of the rig, still writhing in agony, blood dripping from the gurney onto the sidewalk. _Too much blood_, a voice in his head noted calmly. _He's going to die from losing too much blood._ One of the paramedics was talking on the radio as the other worked to stabilise Sam. Dean couldn't hear everything he said but he caught one short phrase, "single stab wound to the abdomen". He turned to Bobby.

"Summon Ruby. We need her here now" and he climbed into the ambulance.


	3. Chapter 3

The scene was all too familiar. One of the boys lying on a gurney doctors fussing over them, tossing bloodied rags to the floor, clear plastic tubes running into different parts of the body forcing life into the limp form. Bobby took his hat off, ran his hand through his hair and then turned to sit in one of the chairs lined up on the opposite wall. He patted Dean on the arm as he went to sit down and wait.

Time crawled past, each agonising minute emphasised by the ticking of the hall clock, the doctors had come and gone and the room was quiet now save the gentle beep of the machines as they monitored Sam's vitals, maintaining a connection between the young man on the bed and the world around him. Dean was sat in a chair in the corner of the room, his head in his hands, staring at the floor. He had stopped crying an hour ago. It wasn't helping, hadn't made him feel any better Not that it ever did. He had hoped it would rouse his baby brother into life, call him a bitch or chick, or something like that. As it was, the only sounds coming from Sam were the moans of a man clearly in agony.

The door clicked open and Dean looked up, expecting to see a medic with a clipboard, instead, Ruby stood in the doorway, looking in apprehension at the older Winchester boy, she recognised the sanctity of what lay before her, the absolute love of the two brothers for each other and was reluctant to intrude on that. The human and the demon stared at each other for a moment, and then it was Dean that broke the tension, giving her permission to enter.

"Well, you took your damned time." He stood up and strode towards her. The demon stood her ground, although she knew that Dean was always at his most dangerous when his brother's welfare was threatened.

"What happened?" she spat but before Dean had a chance to answer a loud gasp came from the bed. Both Dean and Ruby flew to Sam's beside, followed closely by Bobby who burst in through the door. Sam was thrashing around with his arms as he rose out of his troubled sleep, then before Dean could get a proper hold of him, Sam sat bolt upright in bed, tearing off electrodes and lines as he did.

"Sam, Sam!" Dean yelled to get his attention.

"Dean?" Sam stopped still and looked at his brother, confusion all over his face.

"What's happening? Where am I?"

"Take it easy, someone stabbed you, bro. You had us pretty worried for a while"

Sam threw his brother a questioning look and then began to run his hands over his chest and stomach.

"Wha? Where? Dean, I'm fine, look." He started to pull at the gown he was wearing.

"Whoa man. Let's not and say we did, whaddya say?" Dean stepped away from the bed in mock horror.

"I hate to bust in on this reunion but just what the hell is going on here?" Bobby cut through the brotherly banter that was starting up. "An hour ago, your blood was all over this floor and it was touch and go as to whether you would make it."

Ruby pushed through the two men and ran her hands over Sam's stomach. If she focused she could just feel a faint scar under the material. She looked up at Sam.

"The wound has completely healed. There is barely even a scar. This is out of my league" she admitted. "I do know of something that might be able to give us some answers." She looked at all of them one by one. "Malandra. It's in a city not far from here at the moment."

"No" was Bobby's immediate response. "No way"

"Wait a minute. Who or should I say what?" Dean looked from Bobby to Ruby and back again. "Come on people, share"

The hunter and the demon looked at each other, then Bobby looked across at Sam. Normal, healthy looking Sam who had been at death's door earlier that day. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll get the car" and he walked out. Dean and Sam watched him go. As soon as he was out of sight Dean turned back to Ruby and glared at her.

"Well?" he demanded.

Ruby sighed and began to explain.

"Malandra is a demon. It's currently in a female form, has been for the last 300 years. Look, she is very old and knows most of the tricks that demons pull up here. If anyone is going to know what this is, I would say that she is our best bet."

"A demon. You want us to seek out a demon- an old one at that which suggests that she has some survival techniques up her sleeve that are pretty effective by the way- and say 'hey, we're demon hunters and my brother here got stabbed by something, probably another demon and we would like you to help us so that we can carry on demon hunting.' Right!" Dean snorted in derision.

"Why are you assuming that a demon did this? Maybe this is part of his powers? Anyway, when did he get stabbed?"

"Yesterday."

"And you didn't think to call me then?"

"You're not on my list of top 10 people to ring if Sam gets hurt. And anyway, I didn't think it was serious at the time, seemed like there was nothing there,"

"Really? IS that so? So how come I am here now huh?"

"Because my hinky alarm is going off and you are the closest queen of the damned at the moment."

Sam rolled his eyes and cut in. "look, whatever we decide to do, at the moment I feel fine and I think that we should get out of here before anyone comes in and starts asking awkward questions like 'why are you sat up?'"

"Agreed" the other two chimed in at the same time. Sam swung his legs over the edge of the bed and then stopped.

"A little privacy to get dressed?"

"What you worried about? She's seen it all before." Dean threw his jeans at him. "Gonna need a new shirt." He held up Sam's blood soaked garment for him to see and then looked at Ruby expectantly.

"Fine, I'll be back in a minute"

Dean turned back to Sam,

"Listen bro, whatever this is we will sort it. We always do, right?"


End file.
